Super Simple Sugar Cookies
My Mum is an amazing baker* who joyously (and with some fatigue) exclaimed that it was all up to me once I was tall enough to reach the oven. These sugar cookies were one of the first recipes I mastered from scratch. Yes, there are fancier recipes and techniques out there, but if you don’t have the time or patience for chilling your dough or adding items to your growing pile of dishes, this is the recipe for you. This is also my top recommendation for baking holiday cookies, especially if you are baking and decorating them on Christmas Eve and need to manage your time.
You can choose to roll this dough into a log and slice, bake and decorate. This is especially helpful if you are tight for time, or if you don’t have the counter space to roll out the dough and cut with cookie cutters or if you just want to focus on the decorating. That’s the best part, anyway! But if you (or your kitchen elves) are convinced that cookies (specifically, Christmas cookies) must be shaped, you can roll out this dough after cooling for just 10 minutes in the refrigerator.
This is a three-step process that includes creaming your butter and sugar. Creaming is very important to a sugar cookie’s fluffy texture and can be accomplished with an electric mixer or creaming by hand. The electric mixer will save you time and evenly cream the butter and sugar together without gritty clumps, but you will have another container to wash and need the counter space for your mixer- I still recommend using an electric mixer (stand or handheld) for time management and personal sanity.
When is the butter creamed?
Using an electric mixer: Add your softened butter and sugar to your mixing bowl and mix on medium speed for 1-2 minutes. Stop your mixer one to two times during this period to scrape down the sides of your bowl with a spatula and make sure there aren’t any pockets of unincorporated butter or sugar. Your butter is thoroughly creamed when your mixture is a light yellow/creamy white color and it almost suddenly looks fluffy.
Using a fork: Using a knife or your fork, cut off small pieces of your butter and add to your bowl of sugar. Using the back of your fork against the side of the bowl, spread the butter against the side and continue to mix into the sugar. It will feel like incorporating the butter takes a long time. It does. And yes, it’s worth the bicep workout to keep going until you can run your fork through your fully incorporated mixture and not see a streak of yellow butter or white sugar. Remember that a hand mixer is also great for this and comes at a much lower price point than a stand mixer- it is also a space saver!
Just ask anyone: a freshly baked cookie is the absolute best, so go ahead and snack away on any that don’t come out exactly as you planned. Decorate with a simple icing and use a variety of sprinkles to help your designs come to life. Or, just place your cookies on a plate and enjoy the brief moment of silence that comes from full, happy mouths.
Enjoy, FoodFam!
*P.S. Yes, I will be posting my Mum’s famous Bananas Foster recipe coming up in the New Year! Think: caramelized sugar+fruit+fire+cool vanilla bean gelato to make all of your pyro-chef dreams come true...stay tuned!
